1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a cigarette making machine, and more particular to a cigarette tobacco filler device, which is easy to operate by pivotally moving down an operation handle to actuate the plunger for filling the tobacco into the cigarette tube.
2. Description of Related Arts
A conventional cigarette machine generally comprises an injection device received in a casing and a manually actuation device for actuating the injection device. The injection device comprises a plunger being actuated by the actuation device for filling a predetermined amount of tobacco into an empty cigarette tube.
The injection device comprises a tobacco receiving chamber provided on a top side of the casing 10A for receiving an sufficient amount of tobacco, wherein when the plunger 11A is actuated, the tobacco in the tobacco receiving chamber is pushed by the plunger 11A and is filled into the cigarette tube. In particular, a window 18A is provided at the top side of the casing 10A and is actuated by the actuation device to enclose the tobacco receiving chamber. The window 18A has a sharp cutting edge arranged in such a manner that when the window 18A is moved to enclose the tobacco receiving chamber, the cutting edge of the window 18A is moved to cut the excessive amount of tobacco out of the tobacco receiving chamber so as to retain the sufficient tobacco therein for one single cigarette tube.
Furthermore, the actuation device comprises a rotatable handle 12A rotatably coupled on a top side of the casing 10A and an actuation link connected between the rotatable handle and the plunger 11A, as shown in FIG. 2A. The rotatable handle 12A is rotated on the top side of the casing 10A at the same planer direction to provide dual action operation, as shown in FIG. 1. In other words, the rotatable handle 12A is rotated to actuate the window 18A for closing the tobacco receiving chamber first and then to actuate the plunger 11A for pushing the tobacco into the cigarette tube. The actuation device comprises a cam 13A driven by the rotatable handle 12A, a window link connected between the cam and the window 18A, and a plunger link connected between the cam 13A and the plunger 11A. The window link comprises a transverse link 14A and a plurality of longitudinal links 15A. The plunger link comprises a plunger actuation arm 16A connected to the plunger 11A.
The rotatable handle 12A is rotated resulting in a corresponding rotary movement in axle and integrally attached cam, wherein the rotary movement of cam 13A urges the transverse link 14A to move. The longitudinal links 15A are rotatably pivoted at one end to the transverse link 14A to actuate the window 18A for closing the tobacco receiving chamber, as shown in FIG. 2B.
Once the window 18A is actuated to close the tobacco receiving chamber, the rotatable handle 12A is kept rotating to actuate the plunger actuation arm 16A. The rotatable movement of the plunger actuation arm 16A is transmitted to move the plunger 11A in a linear movement. A compression spring 17A is connected to the plunger actuation arm 16A to pull the plunger actuation arm 16A back to its original position so as to move the plunger 11A back in a linear movement.
The cam 13A has an arc-shaped guiding channel 131A, wherein the driving end of the transverse link 14A is guided to slide along the guiding channel 131A. In particular, when the cam 13A is rotated, the driving end of the transverse link 14A is slid from the closed end of the guiding channel 131A to the opened end thereof. Therefore, the transverse link 14A is guided to move linearly so as to move the window 18A in a longitudinally linear movement through the longitudinal links 15A. Once the driving end of the transverse link 14A is slid out of the guiding channel 131A, the plunger actuation arm 16A is started to be driven by the rotary movement of the cam 13A. In other words, the cam 13A with the guiding channel 131A provides the dual action operation for the window 18A and the plunger 11A. However, the conventional cigarette machine has several drawbacks.
The casing 10A cannot be stably placed on a surface, such as a table surface, when the rotatable handle 12A is actuated. Since the rotatable handle 12A is driven to rotate above the top side of the casing 10A, the rotatable force at the rotatable handle 12A will be transmitted not only to the cam 13A but also the casing 10A. In particular, the rotation of the rotatable handle 12A by the user's hand is not ergonomic actuation to optimize the force applied by the user. Therefore, the casing 10A will be unstably moved on the surface. In addition, the rotatable handle 12A is rotated to drive two different mechanisms, i.e. the window link and the plunger link, to operate two different rotatable forces at one single continuous motion. Even though a frictional support is provided at the bottom side of the casing 10A to support on the surface, the two different rotatable forces will create different torques to the casing 10A to move the casing 10A on the surface. Therefore, the casing 10A will be moved no matter how the user hold the casing 10A tightly.
Furthermore, the rotatable movement of the cam 13A via the rotatable handle 12A will be transmitted to two different linear movements at different directions. The first linear movement is the longitudinal movement of the window 18A and the second linear movement is the transverse movement of the plunger 11A. Accordingly, the rotatable force at the cam 13A must be large enough to transmit to both the longitudinal force and the transverse force to actuate the window 18A and the plunger 11A respectively. Once one of the window link and the plunger link is broken, the entire machine will not be operated at all. Especially the pivot connection between the transverse link 14A and the longitudinal link 15A of the window link is the weakest connection among the mechanisms, the excessive rotatable force will break the pivot connection easily. Since the cam 13A is located away from the window 18A, the rotatable force from the cam 13A must be transmitted to the longitudinal force through the transverse link 14A and the longitudinal link 15A. However, the longitudinal force may not be able to evenly apply to the window 18A. Therefore, the closing action at the window 18A will not be smooth due to the uneven pivotal movements of the longitudinal links 15A.
The window 18A is remained at opened position when the machine is not in use. Accordingly, dust or other particles will be accumulated in the tobacco receiving chamber and will mix with the tobacco. In addition, the sharp cutting edge of the window 18A will be exposed resulting in any accidentally injury. In other words, there is no locking mechanism to lock up the window 18A at the closed position when the machine is not in use.
Since the compression spring 17A is kept loading to pull the plunger 11A back to its original position, the fatigue life of the compression spring 17A will be substantially shortened. Accordingly, the transverse force at the plunger 11A must overcome the spring force in order to push the plunger 11A forward. Then, the plunger 11A is pulled back by the spring force. In particular, the compression spring 17A is mounted to the plunger actuation arm 16A. When the plunger actuation arm 16A is pivotally moved to transmit the rotatable force to the transverse force at the plunger 11A, the compression spring 17A will be stretched unevenly. In other words, the compression spring 17A is stretched by the pivotal movement of the plunger actuation resulting in shortening the service life span of the compression spring 17A.